At first, for me, this project seemed difficult and daunting. I was no longer merely helping with the research, but I had to write for myself. It was nerve-wracking at first because in my head I didn’t have enough information to go off of only. To me, this project had first come to fruition to share the story of Kuno and his connection to Miep Gies and the Frank’s, but I still had questions about every detail of Kuno van der Horst’s life because I thought it’d make it easier for me to write and understand. Though, as I began I realized that wasn’t the case at all. As I got more comfortable with writing it and the story of the van der Horst family it all began to piece together. It no longer felt as daunting; it was still a lot of information to read through and decide if it should be included or not, but I didn’t feel as nervous. The main challenge I began to have was after all of the information was written down. The editing process made me realize how much more I need to work on my writing skills and my attention to detail. It showed me that it’s been quite some time since I’ve really written and looked at my writing in a critical manner. Although at times I felt like I caught on to mistakes before I’d send it back to Prof. Hearst there was always something I’d forget to correct. This has helped me immensely though to realize these mistakes and even though there are always new ones I can continue to learn and grow as a writer.

As Prof. Hearst and I are in the final stages of our project it’s hard to imagine the beginning of the summer when I was still trying to scramble enough ideas on how to piece together all of the information. The information that was provided to us by Kuno van der Horst’s family and their generous help gave us the opportunity to share a story that needed to be shared. The story of Kuno and his family is one that is probably shared with many families during this time period. A will to help and fight against an oppressive force and to help those more defenseless than you. Although there may be many stories like the van der Horst’s it doesn’t mean that not every story should be shared. From what I’ve learned through last summer and now is that to stand in the face of such trying times and to cower away only adds to you helping the people in the wrong. From Anne Frank’s helpers to Kuno van der Horst’s family these people risked their lives to do what was right. Just like the project from last summer it has only opened up my eyes more to the need to stand for what is right and to not be selfish in times of peril, but to risk your life knowing that you’re helping someone else. Leading into the future these historical stories should be a guiding light for everyone and give people the courage to keep fighting even if they want to give up, just keep fighting because the end result will not leave you with regret or sadness. It’ll leave you with pride knowing that you did everything in your power to go against something that was blatantly morally wrong.